White Rock Pride Week celebrates belonging
Published 3:00 pm Thursday, July 23, 2026
The City of White Rock and White Rock Pride Society officially launched Pride Week celebrations at city hall on the afternoon of July 17, with the traditional annual Pride flag raising.
Mayor Megan Knight and Pride Society president Rob Christensen did the honours – hoisting a newly redesigned international Pride flag up the pole adjacent to the main city hall entrance.
Describing it as “a powerful reminder of who we are,” Knight said that Pride Week (July 18-25) is a celebration of diversity – and noted the participation of the White Rock RCMP detachment and White Rock Fire and Rescue, whose members are wearing a specially designed Pride badge during the week.
Christensen also noted a strong turnout, among the more than 100 attending the flag raising, of members of the White Rock Pride and 2SLGBTQ+ community, but also families and “allies.”
The week celebrates love, hope, diversity and belonging, he said.
“Pride has always been about one simple idea,” he added. “Everyone deserves to belong.”
Among guest speakers, Denise Darrell, retired executive director of Sources Community Resources, said the event brings together people of different faiths, cultures, identities and lived experiences.
“Sometimes we may see the world differently, but we have common ground of believing in safety, dignity, kindness and respect,” she said.
As a lesbian identifying as she/her, Darrell remembered fondly how her daughter Angela and son Tony supported her, and “how fiercely they stood up for their two moms.”
The need today is to establish “a welcoming community for everyone,” she said.
“We must speak up when we hear words that are wrong,” she said, but also “make room for every voice.”
“The world is better when you show up exactly as you are,” she added.
The flag raising was followed in the early evening by the White Rock Pride Ride car parade, where rainbow and flag-festooned gathered at Centennial Park before following a loop route that included an east to west trip along the city waterfront.
Other events included in Pride Week are lighting the pier in rainbow colours, Family Day (which took place on on Saturday, July 18 at Miramar Plaza), the White Rock BIA Pride Mingler on Monday, July 20 at Morrison Café, the Thursday, July 23 Concerts at the Pier free event at Miramar Plaza with Doug and the Slugs, and the sold-out White Rock Pride Love Is Love gala at Hazelmere Golf Course on Friday, July 24.